They fasted then they went back to their homeland where Ramadaan had not yet begun

 

My question has to do with whether it is obligatory to fast when there is a difference in moonsighting between two countries. We left Saudi territory after it was proven that the month of Ramadaan had begun, and entered Jordanian territory – where we live – after Zuhr on that day, and it had not been proven that Ramadaan had begun in Jordan. Many travellers did not fast on that day, because they did not know of the shar’i ruling concerning that. What is the ruling? Should they make up the fast for that day? With regard to the travellers who did fast on that day, is their fast valid, and should they complete the fast in Jordan even if the number of days that they fasted turns out to be 31 days?.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: 

In the answer to question no.
50487 we stated that the sighting
of the moon may differ, so each country should fast according to its own
sighting and they do not have to start fasting when the moon is sighted in
another country. 

Secondly: 

It seems – and Allaah knows best – that if Ramadaan begins
when a person is in one country then he should fast with the people of that
country, even if he is travelling on that day to another country where the
beginning of the month has not yet been announced. That is because fasting
that day became obligatory for him when the month of Ramadaan began when he
was in the first country, because Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning): 

“So everyone of you who is present during that month
should spend it in fasting”

[al-Baqarah 2:185] 

This person was present during the month so he has to fast.  

With regard to the command to count the number of days of the
month, and the difference of opinion as to whether Ramadaan should be
completed according to the reckoning of the first country, or according to
the reckoning of the country to which he travelled, the basic principle that
is mentioned by many of the scholars concerning this matter is that the one
who travels to another country should follow the ruling of the country to
which he has come, as it says in al-Majmoo’ by al-Nawawi (6/274). If the
people in the second country complete the fasting as thirty days, he should
fast with them, even if that means that he will have fasted thirty-one days.
But if they fast for twenty-nine days, there is no problem in that case,
because then he will have completed thirty days, and the month may be
twenty-nine days or thirty days. 

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in
al-Majmoo’ (6/274): 

If he started to fast in one country then he travels to a
distant country where they did not see the new moon when the people of the
first country saw it, and he completes thirty days from the time when he
fasted, if we assume that each country has its own ruling, then there are
two points of view, the more sound of which is that he has to fast with them
because he has now become one of them. 

What if he saw the new moon in one country, and celebrated
Eid with them, then he travelled by ship to another country and finds the
people there fasting? 

Shaykh Abu Muhammad said: He has to refrain from eating and
drinking for the rest of that day, if we say that each country has its own
ruling. End quote. 

It says in Tuhfat al-Muhtaaj (3/383) that Ibn Hajar
al-Haytami (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

If we do not say that the people of the other country have to
fast because of the differences in moonsighting, when a person travels there
from a land where the moon was sighted, the more correct view is that he
should join them in fasting until the end of their month, even if he has
already completed thirty days, because by moving to where they are he has
become like them. End quote. 

It says in al-Insaaf, which is a Hanbali book
(3/273): 

It says in al-Ri’aayat al-Kubra: If he travels from a
land where the moon was sighted on the night before Friday to a land where
it was sighted the night before Saturday, and he has completed a month of
fasting but they have not sighted the new moon, he should fast with them.
End quote. 

We have previously quoted on this site many fatwas from
contemporary scholars which affirm this ruling.  See the answers to
questions no. 38101,
45545 and
71203. 

From the above it may be understood that the one who fasted
and completed the fast on the first day of Ramadaan did the right thing,
because you were in a country where the sighting of the moon had been
confirmed for that day, so you were obliged to fast then, even if you
entered your own country – where no announcement of Ramadaan had been made –
during that day. 

Then when you travelled to your country in which the fasting
began a day later than in the first country, you should continue fasting
with the people there, even if that means that the number of days you fast
is thirty-one. 

And Allaah knows best.